Itchy Feet – Bang or Bust?

The mad dash to get the early birds, the queuing to acquire tickets on Pennsylvania Crescent, the begging on the Itchy Feet Exeter page to find spares, but was it all worth it in the end?

Itchy Feet is a huge night in Exeter where all the jazz and electro-swing fans unite to don their best “flapper girl” (although some of the outfits looked a bit more slapper) dress and swing the night away with the man of their dreams.

This Itchy Feet venue was back at the Phoenix after taking a short break at Arena. Initially I was very excited; Itchy Feet at the Phoenix is meant to be a legendary night where there are a multitude of different rooms, reasonably priced drinks, and great music.

The second I walked in, the first thing I saw was a huge line to go to the cloak room and the sounds of a general grumble because of the cold. In my opinion, the cloak room should have been free, not only because of the weather but because of the pure amount of time it took to deposit your coat.

Straight to the bar we go and the drinks are expensive, very expensive. They have deals displayed everywhere but £3 pounds for a Jagerbomb is more than I would pay at Arena. According to a friend, doubles were extortionately priced at around £5. Then, because I am a girl of course, I was dragged to the toilets with friends for a quick bathroom break then off to the dance floor. Both toilets were jammed and there was at least a 20 minute wait.

Finally we got to the dance floor, it was a huge, dark, boiling hot auditorium with Itchy Feet goers packed into one dance floor. The live band was great and the music afterwards was fun as well but the atmosphere was not as lively as other Itchy Feets I’ve attended. As far as I could tell, there were not many other rooms to dance in, so a step down from last year’s Phoenix Itchy Feet.

Still, it was a good night; not great mind you, but good. The music was fun, the dancing was different, the style was cool, but it had room for improvement. Maybe it was the weather that got everyone down or the prices of the drinks, but the atmosphere was not as riproaring as I had expected it to be.